Asia stocks slump as technology stocks valuation fears resurface

Japan's the Nikkei 225 and the South Korea's KOSPI were the biggest laggard in the MSCI AC Asia Pacific index. Both the indices fell over 1 per cent on Thursday.

Markets across Asia were trading in losses, tracking overnight decline on Wall Street as fears about technology stocks' high valuations resurfaced. Japan's benchmark index, the Nikkei 225 and South Korea's KOSPI fell over 1 per cent in Thursday's session.

 

The MSCI AC Asia Pacific Index fell 0.45 per cent as of 7:44 a.m. as the Nikkei 225 and the KOSPI weighed the most. The Hang Seng and CSI 300 were trading 0.21 per cent and 0.59 per cent down, respectively as of 7:47 a.m.

 

In the Nikkei 225, the SoftBank shares were the biggest laggard as it fell over 7 percent. The decline tracked heavy selloff in the Nasdaq Composite in the previous night. The stock was trading 4.39 per cent as of 7:52 a.m.

 

In Japan, investors are expecting a rate hike in the Bank of Japan's two-day policy meeting, which started on Thursday. Commentary from the governor will be crucial to get more cues about the future rate path. The central bank will likely hike the rates to 0.75 per cent.

 

In China, chipmaker MetaX Integrated share price slumped 7 per cent after it debuted with 700% surge on the exchanges in the previous session. The chipmaker raised $600 million in the initial public offering.

 

In the previous session on Wall Street, the Nasdaq 100 and the S&P 500 declined 1.9 per and 1.16%, respectively. The Nvidia Corp share price declined 3.8% to the lowest level since September, according to Bloomberg.

 

The heavy selloff is indicating that traders are doubting whether the technology companies steering the AI boom can continue to justify their heavy spending plans. Concerns of the cost of expanding the data centre network, spared by Oracle Corp's financial plans also weighed on sentiments. Oracle Corp's primary investor, Blue Owl Capital has taken back its decision to invest in data centre project in Michigan, Financial Times reported.

 

Apart from Oracle Corp and Nvidia Corp, Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices share prices also tumbled during US trade session.

 

US jobless claims data, Eurozone inflation data, European Central Bank and the Bank of England's rate decisions are awaited. Traders also look forward to the release of US Consumer Price Index (CPI) for November, which is scheduled to be published Thursday morning. However, concerns have risen about the accuracy of the data because of the government shutdown, according to Bloomberg.